The ever-guarded Peter Laviolette tipped his hand. But make no mistake, this was hardly a slip-up. ¶

Always coy and protective about who will be in his lineup, Laviolette strongly hinted Tuesday that Michael Leighton will be back in goal when the Philadelphia Flyers try to force a Game 7 in the Stanley Cup finals. ¶

“I don’t comment on lineups or goaltenders,” the stern-faced Laviolette said at first on the eve of Wednesday night’s Game 6 against the Chicago Blackhawks. The story was reported by The Associated Press.

That retort has been standard for Laviolette back to his days as coach of the New York Islanders, the Carolina Hurricanes, and even the 2002 U.S. Olympic hockey team. It doesn’t matter if the question is about the starting goalie or if he is considering using five defensemen instead of six for the first time this season as Philadelphia faces elimination yet again.

But Tuesday provided a bit of a twist.

“Our goaltender has the best numbers in the playoffs. I didn’t think I had to announce it,” Laviolette said tersely. “I’m very confident in Michael. He’s played excellent in the playoffs. His home numbers are terrific.”

And there it was. All it took was a quick look at the stat sheet to see that Leighton has an NHL-low 2.34 goals-against average in 13 appearances since taking over for the injured Brian Boucher in Game 5 of the second-round series against Boston. ¶

Those who will attend Wednesday's Game 6 likely will be paying more for tickets than almost every other sporting event played this year. Christian Anderson of FanSnap.com wrote in an e-mail just minutes ago that the hottest ticket in sports right now isn't the NBA Finals. Rather, it's this series between the Flyers and Chicago Blackhawks.

He continued:

"The average ticket price of a Stanley Cup Finals game is $1,379, which ranks third to the Olympic Gold Medal Game (USA-Canada) and the Super Bowl. The average cost for an NBA Finals game is $853, which is almost 40 percent lower than those for the Stanley Cup.

"The difference between the Stanley Cup Finals and the Super Bowl or the Gold Medal game is those are single events. The Stanley Cup is a series of games. For events like the Stanley Cup, fans have between 4 and 7 chances to go a game.

"Tickets in Philly for Game 6 are averaging $1,125.30. Tickets in Chicago for Game 7 are averaging $2200.

"Even comparing the Stanley Cup as a whole against other big events, that's two hockey events in the top three events of the year.

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